June 16
?11:30 (LA) We call the agency that offered us a job at a Nursing Home (hereinafter - Sadik, as they call it here). After 156 dictated phone numbers, we finally reach an adequate person: they ask about English and whether we are not too fragile for such hard physical work. We confidently answer YES to the first question and NO to the second, and ... we wait for tomorrow - they promised to clarify the details and call back... An unproductive call.
13:00 (LA) We contact the second employment agency - waitresses are needed! Happiness exists!
17:30 (LA) We are picked up from the Tomila stop (from the agency) by a man of criminal appearance with a huge ring on his little finger. We are going to meet the employer.
18:00 (LA) Hmm... We arrive at a large house, not yet furnished, but already with a good renovation. We go out onto the veranda to a huge blue pool, above which rises a wall with green ivy - beauty and pathos have found each other.
We are met by a slightly plump Armenian with graying temples and hair slicked back. His appearance is no less criminal, but he already has four rings.
The essence of the proposed work: Casino. Poker game. About 20 players - all Armenians. Work three times a week - at night. Salary-tips (and as you know - people of this nationality in America are very generous - you can earn about $300-$400 per shift). Appearance: sexy - heels, mini-skirt (shorts, dress), cleavage. The requirement to "know how to make Armenian coffee" is not even discussed - it is taken for granted. Sometimes... you need to give clients a massage - through clothes and right during the game. Do not leave phones to anyone. Sex with clients is prohibited (Excuse me, but is it mandatory with the owners? O_o)
-We will try you today, see what you are capable of. They will pick you up at 20:40. See you later.
20:00 (LA) Yes, we need a job. We don't want to sit at home and all options must be considered. At least to calm our conscience. We need money, after all! We have to go. We have to try... Who doesn't risk, as you know...
Something is still bothering us. There is a tense silence in the apartment, only occasionally broken by a repeating dialogue:
-Well, are we going?
-I don't know... What do you think?
-I don't know either... Let's go.
-Or not after all? and what to wear?
Moreover, we sometimes swapped lines with Tanechka... For polyphony, so to speak...
20:25 (LA) We need to consult. We won't decide anything like this!!!
We call our temporary but wise mentor Nastya and lay out the situation. She couldn't give us an unambiguous answer right away. But, having heard about the massage and the casino, which can be raided by the police at any moment, she said firmly: "Stay at home!" and wished us luck in our search.
Do I need to write with what relief we exhaled... We called Tomila and honestly admitted that we were afraid. To which we heard a confused argument about the "wonderful" nature of this work. We only confirmed our thoughts about the "dark side of the issue" once again.
20:30 (LA) Vlad is already waiting for us near the house. We are going for a walk around night LA! We've seen everything already... But no, today we are being taken to the street of diamonds, prices with tens of zeros and boutiques of the most famous brands... We are being taken to Rodeo Drive. Yes, it was here that Julia Roberts' character in the movie "Pretty Woman" came in search of a Prada dress...
After kissing all the showcases, and smoking more than one cigarette from the realization of the impossible in front of the variety of colors, the diversity of textures and the shimmering of stones under magnifying glasses, we came to Sturbox and drank a huge mug of... hot coffee out of grief. This is becoming a tradition... drinking coffee at night)
22:00 (LA) while driving along Ventura, which had become not so interesting to us after what we had seen, we came up with a genius idea: we will fulfill our dream - we will come to a wedding dress salon with Vlad the "translator", who will tell a legend about our untold wealth, daddy's millions, etc. And we will be able to try on as many dresses as we want!!! That will be a fairy tale...
22:30 (LA) We said goodbye to our American friend and are watching The Simpsons on American television) Nothing is clear, but it's still very funny:)
June 17
?11:30 (LA) Good, very good morning:)
20:00 (LA) We are going with Vlad to American bowling) Wow, cool) We hit strikes, sometimes, of course, missing and swearing loudly (and no one understands anyway)!!!
The setting is the same - only there are more lanes. And shoe sizes are different from Russian ones, but we guessed right the first time:)
21:30 (LA) Our game ended with my strike:) But the main game of the season is not over - a basketball match is being broadcast on TV, the last minute of the game. All bowling players are in tension, everyone has been distracted from the pins and balls, fixing their eyes on the balls and hoops! Tense moments. The last 13 seconds are the most important. And here it is - LA Lakers are ahead!!! They are champions) And my daddy is such a fan of them:)
All of Los Angeles has gone crazy! Everyone is shouting, hugging, cars are honking! there is such a commotion around that it is hard to imagine:)
?
June 18
It's a terrible thing that's happening!!! - would say our favorite neighbor Siska. Now the "brainless adventures" have definitely begun...
12:00 (LA) The morning did not bode anything unusual. On the contrary, everything was developing according to a standard and painfully familiar plot: breakfast, TV, book, pool, tanning...
When I approached the pool, I had a nice chat with the manager: he said that it is not worth swimming yet - the pool has just been filled with new water and they haven't had time to clean it yet. I explained with a smile that I am not a fool (well, more politely, of course) and will only sunbathe) Permission granted!
20:30 (LA) He picked us up - our Great and True Friend Vlad... (needs to be read with a sense of superficial irony).
-Girls! Get ready, I got my salary!!! We are going to a bar - to celebrate the Lakers' victory!
21:00 (LA) We got ready in about fifteen minutes, went to Sunset, to a bar under an "open" canopy. Its main advantage is the ability to smoke without leaving the premises, which is extremely unwelcome in America. And also (which is not unimportant for us), after looking at our IDs, the girl winked at the "underage tourists" and allowed us to drink. "A little bit"...
22:15 (LA) No worries: we relaxed. We are drinking Apple Martini, eating seafood - huge shrimp, crabs and crayfish under seven different sauces... Mmmm... And also the pink roses gifted to us by Vlad, lying lonely on the white tablecloth of the table, delight the eye...
Friend Vlad's performance of the song "Pink Roses for Svetka Sokolova" caused our friendly laughter and we relaxed completely...
23:30 (LA) Girls want to dance) We are going to the "Key Club"... Beautiful music, guys are playing on stage: a man with a black skin tone is soloing on the guitar (we call them that because they understand otherwise), cymbals are sounding behind, some kind of saxophone-like tube and a bunch of other instruments that I see for the first time. Above the stage is a screen duplicating the performers. In front of the stage is a dance floor, which we conquered:)
00:00 (LA) That's where it all started...
Boy (34 years old, by the way) Vlad wanted to rest... Wanted to relax and remember, apparently, that he is a man... A real man.
At first, light and non-binding hints slowly began to grow into phrases like "everything has to be paid for" and "if you don't want it the good way, it will be the bad way"...
It became really scary. Night. An unfamiliar city and bags in his car. We act out the scene "Sveta feels bad, Sveta wants to sleep", to which he laughs with a wild laugh and pulls both of us to dance...
We go outside, a completely drunk Friend tries to string a couple of words together. Here is the minimum of what we understood: (censorship is observed, naturally)
- This city is not for us, it's time to leave for Tyumen ("or wherever you came from")
- We don't understand the laws of life
- He has a "thick and big" one, everyone wants him, but for some reason we are not interested
- And in general, wait 20 minutes, I'll go pick up some chicks and take you, so be it...
- ... and then it's disgusting to even write...
01:00 (LA) He left. We had already exhaled that the evening of adventures was over... But it was not so... Everything was just be-gin-ning... On the way to the car, we, holding hands tightly from fear and cold, bit our tongues so as not to answer his incessant monologue with rudeness. And he chanted: "We are not hippies, we are not punks, we are lesbian girls!!!". We should have said it right away, etc. Excuses were no longer accepted, but we decided that let him think so - it's even better...
We got into the car. We drove off. "Vlad, are you sure you'll drive normally? You're drunk."
As if we looked into the water: the very first curb on the road was ours: we crashed with all our might, jumped up (it's good that both of us guessed to fasten our seatbelts) - the tire burst. That's the first accident in America:)
01:30 (LA) My ears were blocked from the Friend's swearing, and in the end, you won't believe it, he said "see, all the troubles are because of you".
Excuse me, I couldn't keep silent at this point: "So we are to blame for the fact that YOU crashed?" - "Yes, get out of here quickly!".
Having previously not forgotten to leave the roses on the back seat of the car, we flew out of there.
Night. Foreign city. Foreign country. Little money. Americans are a kind people, always ready to help. Always, but not today. Today everyone decided that two foreign students would manage somehow on their own...
Suppressing snot and hysterical laughter, overcoming embarrassment and the feeling of complete insignificance that had rolled up to my throat, we call Nastya... Where did we come from on her head...
02:00 (LA) She was already asleep, but came to our aid. No words. Only emotions. Probably, there is no need to say how we felt in front of her - the word "shame" is absolutely not suitable, it does not fully express our state at that moment...
And while we were waiting, we were very cold - we went into a 24-hour restaurant. We were brought free ice water and served a menu. Moving from place to place, smiling at the waiters and asking to think for another "five minutes", we sat for half an hour, grabbed a couple of jams lying on the table and left.
03:00 (LA) Alive, healthy, but not quite satisfied, we returned home... God, you do exist after all...
That's how the wonderful, event-filled and impressive Friday evening ended...
June 19
15:00 (LA) Work at "Talisman" and it again...
23:00 (LA) Singer Misha had the imprudence to perform the song "Dad can, dad can do anything...", so vividly reminding me of Russia and my parents. I, as befits ME, teared up and went to call home. 23:30 (LA) To the sincere and full of warmth and light congratulations of his daughter, the birthday boy dad replied: -Thank you, Svetik. And what are you doing there, still washing dishes, cook? :) And laughed. Eh, daddy) Beloved) June 20
12:00 (LA) This day is no different from the previous one:) Banquets at Talisman make themselves felt. 17:00 (LA) My hands slowly began to forget about manicures and delicate well-groomed skin (whoever says that they were not aware of this before - will be wrong :-P - I told them), but the memory of frying pans, pots, basins, plates, glasses, wine glasses, thousands of spoonsforksknives and other dishes will torment my fingers for a very long time... It would be better if all this junk ran away from us, like in the book "Fedorino Gore" (have you read it?)...
21:00 (LA) I sleep without legs... My legs sleep separately) And my beloved daddy has a Birthday today!!! June 21
?02:00 (LA) What a relief it is when all the horror of the nightmare that happened turns out to be... a dream. You jump up in bed, wipe the cold drops of sweat from your forehead with a trembling hand and go to the balcony to smoke... You don't want to sleep after that anymore.
?05:30 (LA) After talking to Tyumen, spending a lot of time on VKontakte and enlisting the support of loved ones, I calmed down.
13:30 (LA) And it's morning for me... The day did not go productively. Time is money, as you know... And we are losing it.
We just call, call, call. We send out resumes, call again, wait. And so all day...
June 22
14:46 (LA) Good morning)
17:00 (LA) We are going for a walk along Ventura - our favorite street, and so familiar.
Not far from the house, we find a golf park that surprised us and at the same time made us open our eyes wide with impression. I have seen so many holes and decorations only in movies) We will definitely go to play golf sometime)
17:45 (LA) Absolutely by accident we stumbled upon a holiday store!!! Yes, yes, yes! Indeed, there is EVERYTHING here for parties of various directions, styles, occasions: decorated dishes, wigs, glasses, carnival costumes, soap bubbles, Hawaiian beach decorations, cocktail glasses with twisted straws, umbrellas and much, much more))) My eyes ran away from the variegated rows of goods and refused to run back! Aaaaa.... We want a party! To organize!!!
18:30 (LA) Anything can happen in life. And our walk did not end quite as we wanted. Sveta is slightly... hmm... sick. :( We wandered home to finish watching our favorite "Interns". And tomorrow... EXACTLY A MONTH SINCE WE ARE IN AMERICA...
In other words, exactly a month since we are not in Russia...
June 23
?12:00 (LA) I woke up after all... I dragged my body out of bed and forced myself to take a shower.
14:00 (LA)? We are leaving. Today's plans: pay for phones at T-mobile and visit the SSC office to restore justice)
14:07 (LA) We didn't go far. We changed our minds, damn it.
Again Sveta is lying and sick all day... What is it, huh? All plans to the cat's tail because of this Sveta! And I wanted to drink wine for our little holiday - after all, it's a DATE...
